
The Lego Movie opens
The Lego Movie opens today in 3,775 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is receiving stellar reviews, earning an almost perfect 99% at Rotten Tomatoes. Their consensus: “Boasting beautiful animation, a charming voice cast, laugh-a-minute gags, and a surprisingly thoughtful story, The Lego Movie is colorful fun for all ages”. Fandango reports that […] |
American trailer and poster for Ernest and Celestine now online
The Oscar-nominated Ernest and Celestine will be getting its US release soon, and Collider has a trailer for the English-language dub as well as the film’s American poster. The movie chronicles the unlikely friendship that takes place between a bear and a mouse, who are supposed to be sworn enemies. The cast for the English […] |
Oscar nominated animated shorts profiled
The five animated short films nominated for an Oscar are being profiled by several sites around the web, including the Washington Post, the Boston Herald, the Huffington Post, and Crave Online. If you’d like to see the films for yourself, Shorts HD is once again bringing their Oscar Nominated Short Film program (Live Action, Animation, […] |
Lego Movie soundtrack excerpts online
WaterTower Music, Warner Bros.’ in-house music label, has posted several tracks from the upcoming Lego Movie on SoundCloud for fans to listen to for free. If you like what you hear, the album is on sale at Amazon. Everything Is AWESOME!!!, Emmet’s Morning, Saloons And Wagons, and Cloud Cuckooland And Ben The Spaceman can be […] |
The Lego Movie sequel already in the works
Though The Lego Movie doesn’t open theatrically until this weekend, Warner Bros. has already begun work on a sequel, reports TheWrap. Jared Stern (The Internship, Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and Michelle Morgan (Girl Most Likely) are reportedly working on the script for the followup. No word yet if Phil Lord and Chris Miller will return to […] |
Annie’s award best of 2013 animation
Frozen took top honors for Best Animated Feature at the Annie Awards this year along with four other trophies: Directing, Music, Production Design, and Voice Acting. The Croods picked up three awards, for Animated Effects, Character Design, and Character Animation. On the TV side, Disney’s Mickey Mouse won three awards for Character Design, Music, and […] |
Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass Productions passes away
Arthur Rankin Jr.–half of Rankin/Bass Productions–has passed away, The Hollywood Reporter tells us. Along with co-founder Jules Bass, the animator, writer and director was responsible for a seemingly endless number of animated TV productions. The most notable of these, of course, was 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which approaches its 50th anniversary this year and […] |
Studio Ghibli announces first ever TV series
Studio Ghibli is at work on its very first Anime TV series, Collider is reporting. Directed by Goro Miyazaki (From Up on Poppy Hill), the series will be called Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, and will focus on its titular little girl as she “gets to know the creatures of the forest, meets another kid like […] |
Disney developing live-action Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie
In “Well, I didn’t see that coming” news today, ComingSoon.net is reporting that Disney is currently developing a live-action/animated movie based off of their Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers cartoon show. Airing in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the show imagined Chip and Dale as members of a secret organization that faced off against […] |
Miyazaki expresses views on Japan’s anime industry
Hayao Miyazaki, director of My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Castle in the Sky, was recently interviewed on his thoughts about Japan’s anime industry. Anime News Network reports that in the interview Miyazaki said the problem with the anime industry is that it has too many otaku “…who ‘don’t spend time watching real people’ and […] |
Leaked first images of Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
A few images have leaked on the Internet of the turtles in Michael Bay’s live action remake of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Many news sources were asked to take down the images, but ComicsAlliance still has one available. Many fans have been speculating about what Michael Bay’s turtles would look like and the pictures […] |
New poster for How To Train Your Dragon 2
Collider has the newest poster for How To Train Your Dragon 2, featuring the viking twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut with their two-headed Zippleback, affectionately named Barf and Belch. The movie releases on June 13. |
New Lego Movie trailer parodies Man of Steel
A short new preview for The Lego Movie is now online, and it’s a direct spoof of trailers for last year’s blockbuster Man of Steel, complete with Hans Zimmer’s score. The preview–which can be seen on Collider–features a Lego version of Superman, who in the film is voiced by Channing Tatum. A much anticipated release, […] |
Production officially begins on Shaun the Sheep movie
He’s baaaa-ack! Shaun the Sheep, who made his debut in Aardman Animation’s Wallace and Gromit short A Close Shave before moving on to his own spin-off TV series, will now star in his own movie, ComingSoon.Net is reporting. Production on the film officially just began, with the film’s plot involving Shaun and Bitzer the dog […] |
Animated Van Gogh movie now in the works
An animated movie about Vincent Van Gogh could be heading our way…or at least it will if a KickStarter campaign is successful. The movie, titled Loving Vincent, is in production at BreakThru Films, the studio responsible for the Oscar-winning 2008 animated short Peter and the Wolf. The aim of the film is to tell the […] |
Sly Cooper movie on the way
An animated movie based on the video game series Sly Cooper is well into production, Collider is reporting. The site has a first trailer for the film, while Shack News has much more info on the release. The Sly Cooper movie will find the thieving raccoon from the video games on a quest to “reassemble pieces […] |
Frozen and Me now face less competition in Best Song category
A few weeks ago, many were surprised when the low-budget Christian movie Alone Yet Not Alone got a nomination for Best Song at the Oscars…especially since most people had never heard of the film before then. Now another shock comes with the news that Alone Yet Not Alone has been disqualified from the Academy Awards, EW […] |
Sing-a-long poster for Frozen revealed
The poster for the “sing-a-long” version of Frozen has made its way online over at the IMP Awards. The “all new version” of the film features lyrics to all of the film’s songs appearing on screens so audiences can sing along. It opens in select theaters on Friday (although most theaters that are already playing […] |
Angelina Jolie makes evil look beautiful in new Maleifcent trailer
Disney’s classic Sleeping Beauty doesn’t delve into the evil enchantress Maleficent’s past. After 55 years, Disney is revealing Maleficent’s backstory in a live-action movie starring Angelina Jolie as the wicked villainess and Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora. In the new film trailer from E! Online, Maleficent’s dastardly deeds are hinted at, including a battle and […] |
Should Google buy DreamWorks?
A columnist for The Motley Fool believes that the partnership Google and DreamWorks Animation recently sealed doesn’t go far enough, and they the search engine should outright buy the movie studio. “Google doesn’t just want to own YouTube for others to program… Google has invested directly in popular channels like Machinima and Vevo. It’s done […] |
Animation pioneer brings his perspective to the stage
Academy Award winning animator Will Vinton is turning his attention to the stage with his latest project: a musical called The Kiss based on The Frog Prince. “I’m thrilled about bringing a comedic animation perspective to the stage… We’ve already put several years of blood, sweat, and tears into The Kiss originally as an animated […] |
The Nut Job 2 already confirmed
After just one week in theaters, Open Road Films has already announced a theatrical sequel to The Nut Job, the LA Times is reporting. The news follows a better-than-expected opening for the film last weekend. It’s unknown if any cast members are set to return, but The Nut Job 2 is set for release on […] |
Captain Underpants on DreamWorks slate
DreamWorks Animation has announced that Ed Helms, Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Nick Kroll and Jordan Peele will be starring in an upcoming feature titled Captain Underpants. The film will is based on Dav Pilkey’s book series “which centers around two scheming fourth graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins whose personal missions are to play pranks, […] |
Disney classic theatrical sequels
While Fortune discusses whether a Frozen sequel should be in the works despite Disney’s usual reluctance to do so with their classic series films, The Animation Guild Blog looks at the question from another more interesting perspective. |
Paperman director goes to Paramount’s Shedd
Variety reports that Oscar winner John Kahrs, of Paperman fame, has been chosen to direct Paramount Pictures’ Shedd. “Tripper Clancy is writing the script, which is based on an original idea from Paramount’s Film Group president Adam Goodman, who oversees the animation division. The studio is keeping the logline under wraps.” |
Disney highlights Frozen music on big and little screens
With a #1 album and Academy voters mulling a potential Best Song Oscar, Disney is putting the music of Frozen at the front of their latest publicity campaign for Frozen, a film still going remarkably strong in its third month since release. The studio has announced that a special sing-along version of the movie will […] |
The Muppets express outrage and get a lot of publicity
Disney released another trailer for Muppets Most Wanted and the Muppets were outraged…about not getting nominated for the Golden Globes. They may be outraged about the lack of nominations, but they should be pleased with the amount of publicity they are receiving. ToughPigs rounds up the all the press releases, interviews, and news articles that […] |
The Nut Job and Frozen have strong weekends
The Nut Job had a surprisingly strong opening weekend bringing in $20.6, good for third place according to Box Office Mojo. Thats good news for Open Road Films since, as BOM mentions,”The Lego Movie doesn’t open until February 7th, meaning The Nut Job has another two weekends to play to families. The movie should ultimately […] |
The Nut Job opens
The Nut Job, the first animated offering from Open Road Films, opens today in a weekend leading 3,427 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is being hammered by the critics, with a measly 12% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Their critical consensus: “Hampered by an unlikable central character and source material stretched too thin […] |
Oscar nominations announced
The nominees for the 86th Academy Awards have been announced this week. American Hustle and Gravity led all films with ten each. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE – The Croods – Despicable Me 2 – Ernest and Celestine – Frozen – The Wind Rises BEST ANIMATED SHORT – Feral – Get a Horse! – Mr. Hublot – […] |